Ousted principal bids Cedar Shoals farewell

Tommy Craft spent part of Friday slinging pizza at a party for Cedar Shoals High School juniors who just finished a week of graduation testing.

The light moment, meant to be a relief from the grueling exams, was bittersweet for Craft, the school's ousted principal.

Friday also was his last day at the eastside school.

Craft will finish out the three months left on his contract working at the district's central office.

It was his decision to leave Cedar Shoals early, before the end of the school year, he said - being at the school every day was getting to him.

"It was really hard to keep working here day after day and planning for next year knowing I wouldn't be coming back," he said.

The school community was buying in to his no-excuses policy, so it's hard to leave after only four years as principal, he said. "Day in, day out, this is a well-behaved school."

Students on Friday said they've gotten used to the idea that Craft won't lead the school next year, though they still think it's for the wrong reasons.

The Clarke County Board of Education voted 7-1 in January not to renew Craft's contract, shocking the principal as well as many in the Cedar Shoals community.

After the effective firing - for which board members offered no justification- teachers tired of administrative turnover at the school, along with parents and students, rallied in Craft's corner, saying board members were interrupting the progress of an effective leader.

Though Craft's tenure saw some controversy, supporters said board members played politics in their decision to oust him - a charge the board has denied.

Craft said Friday he's thankful for people's kind words, in private and in public.

"That's helped me out a lot," he said.

He's considering a few job possibilities, he said, one of which is in the Barrow County School System, where his wife, Joy, teaches.

Craft's exit, which follows the retirement of longtime Clarke Central High School Principal Maxine Easom, leaves the school district's two largest high schools without principals.

District officials are in the middle of a search for new administrators and plan to interview candidates soon.